Learning to Breathe
by Randilyn04
Summary: This story is about the evolution of Auslly, starting in grade school and ending as adults. I can't summarize here without giving away too much, so please just give it a chance! AU. Rated T for safety, but may switch to M in later chapters. AUSLLY forever! :0)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello like-minded Auslly shippers! So, after the overwhelming show of love all of you gave my first Auslly story "This Bad Feeling", I decided to bite the bullet and try writing another one. This is definitely a lot different from the first, as it is a little AU (it starts when they're all in elementary school), and this one will be multi-chapter. All of your favorite characters will make an appearance eventually (I promise!), but this first chapter is just about Austin. **

**This idea was inspired by a few different things, namely the song "Mary May and Bobby" by Joe Purdy. If you haven't heard it, do yourself a favor and download it immediately! It will give you crazy feels as it is one of the best love songs no one has ever heard. I will be integrating some of the stuff from the song as the story moves forward. I really hope you all like it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally. No copyright infringement intended!**

One summer. It's just three months…or 12 weeks or 84 days or 2,016 hours, depending on how you look at it. As an adult seeing life's big picture, three months is really just a drop in the bucket. With every passing year and mounting responsibilities, time seems to move just a little bit faster, and three months goes by in a blink of an eye. Trying to remember what you did yesterday becomes a challenge, so forget about remembering what happened three months ago.

But, for a kid, three months—one summer—is enough time to change everything. Austin Moon learned this lesson the hard way.

* * *

It was the end of his fourth grade school year when his parents took him to his favorite ice cream parlor, ordered him the biggest black raspberry chip hot fudge sundae he had ever seen, and told him they were getting a divorce. Mike and Mimi Moon explained to their nine-year-old son that while they still loved him without question (and each other to a much lesser extent), they just couldn't make each other happy any more. They said that they would rather be apart and happy than together and miserable, and that this was for the best for everyone, especially him.

It's not like he didn't see it coming.

Even at nine, Austin was much attuned to the world around him. His parents didn't know it, but every night, after his mom kissed his forehead and tucked him into bed, he would crawl back out of bed to listen at the door, afraid he was going to miss something important on the other side. He had done this since he could remember, thinking that his parents were living in some exciting world after dark. Usually all they were really doing was decompressing from the day's stresses with trashy TV and, in his Mom's case, a pint of Haagen-Dazs, but in his imagination it was so much more thrilling.

Every night as he listened at the door, he could hear the muffled sounds of them talking or laughing or, in his Dad's case, yelling at the TV. When he would finally crawl into bed (usually around midnight after not being able to keep his eyes open one second longer), he would drift off to sleep feeling happy and safe. However, over the past six months, his Dad replaced yelling at the TV with yelling at his Mom, and the only other sounds he heard were slamming doors and deafening silence. He still couldn't sleep at his appointed bedtime, but he no longer felt comforted by his nightly ritual. After that, his headphones and very loud music became his best friends.

He sat and listened as his parents explained what would happen next. He only heard the bullet points:

They would be selling their house in Cincinnati.

His Dad already found an apartment near the mattress store he owned, and would be moving out of their house that night.

He and his Mom were leaving for Miami at the end of the week to stay with her parents for a while until they could get settled in her hometown.

He would travel to Cincinnati on holidays and for a few weeks each summer to visit his Dad, but Miami would now be home.

He felt like he couldn't breathe. His mind raced with all of this new information.

He wanted to know if it was his fault that this was happening. _Are they fighting because of me? Maybe if I had eaten my vegetables or not asked for such expensive Christmas presents… _

He wanted to scream at them for turning his life upside down. _Miami?! Why do I have to move to dumb Miami just because you don't want to be married anymore?! All of my friends are here!_ _My life is here!_

But, in the end, Austin didn't think that he could respond, or say anything really, without crying, so he just nodded along.

His parents told him they loved him again and his Dad got up to leave. Austin ran over to him and threw his arms around his Dad's waist, holding on for dear life. Austin knew that as soon as his Dad walked out of the ice cream parlor, everything they discussed would become all too real. He wasn't ready for that.

Mike kneeled down to his small son's height and wrapped his arms around his narrow shoulders. He hugged Austin fully and pulled away after a few seconds to look in his son's eyes. In that moment, Austin could see the pain in his father's expression. He had never seen Mike Moon cry before, and he wondered if this would be the first time. "I know this is really hard, Austin," Mike began, "but you're strong and I know you'll get through it. It will all work out for the best in the end. You'll see." With that, he pulled Austin back into another strong embrace, kissed the top of his son's blonde head, and walked out the door.

Austin watched through the window as his Dad walked out to his car. As if he could feel Austin's gaze burning a hole in the back of his head, Mike turned back toward the window, smiled sadly at his only son, and waved goodbye. He then climbed into his car, fired up the engine, and drove away, leaving his family in his rear view. After he could no longer see his Dad's car, Austin turned back to the table where his Mom sat watching him. Seeing the pain in his eyes, she beckoned him into her own embrace. He finally let himself cry into his Mom's shoulder as she held him tightly and stroked his back, the way she always did when a nightmare caused him to wake up shrieking. The action normally soothed him, but this time it just felt empty. Maybe it was just him that felt empty.

After a few minutes, Austin pulled away from his mother and she asked if he was ready to leave. He nodded, still not able to make a sound, and she stood up, grabbed her purse and his hand, and they walked out to her car together. Once inside and on the road back home (_for now anyway_, he thought morbidly), Austin sat, staring blankly out the passenger door window, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Mimi, noticing the overwhelming silence filling the car, had enough and finally broke it.

"Honey," Mimi started, "I know that this is a lot of change to be throwing at a little boy, but I know you'll love growing up in Miami, just like I did. It's sunny and beautiful there, and we can go to the beach whenever you want! I know you'll miss Cincinnati and your Dad, but I also know that you'll make tons of new friends and have experiences there that you would never have here. And, you'll get to spend so much more time with your grandparents. They are so excited to see you! This will be a fresh start for both of us. It'll be good for us, I promise."

After his mother finished talking, even at nine, he could tell how much this situation was hurting her. He could see the sadness in her eyes (which were mirror images of his own), and the concern for him in her deeply creased brow. Much later in life, he recalled that she seemed to have aged twenty years over those six months. She looked tired…haggard from the disagreements and yelling and impossible decision to start over.

In the moment, he wanted to be brave for her so he forced a smile, which seemed to please her. As he turned his head to look back out of the window, he watched the city he knew roll by through the sheen of tears glassing over his eyes. He could tell by their surroundings that his Mom was taking the long way home. He thought absently about how excited he was earlier in the day when she told him they would be meeting his Dad at his favorite place in the world. He barely got through three bites of his sundae before they broke the news to him. After, he couldn't bring himself to finish it. Now, he thought, he'd be off ice cream for a long time.

Once they got home, Austin noticed that his Dad's car was not in the driveway in its usual spot. Once they went inside, Austin searched through the house looking for signs of his Dad, but found none. He was gone. Realizing that, Austin ran straight to his bedroom and locked the door behind him. His Dad had a rule about no locked doors in his house, but he guessed that rule didn't really apply anymore.

He sat down on his bed and pulled out his favorite teddy bear from under his pillow. He had it since he was a baby, and over the years he loved it into submission. It was missing an eye, and its ear was about to fall off as well, but it seemed like the only thing he could depend on. He pulled it in tight to his chest and let the rest of his body form a ball around it. He lay on his bed for hours that night, replaying everything in his head, knowing that everything would be changing…nothing would stay the same. He didn't know what to expect from this new life in Miami, but as he drifted off to sleep, he hoped his Mom would be able to keep her promise.

**So, what do you think? Reviews are, as always, appreciated. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: So, here is the next chapter. I started writing this, and it was originally much longer, but I felt like I needed to cut where I did, meaning I already have Chapter 3 started. Hopefully I can get that updated this week. Thanks to those who have favorited/followed/reviewed this story (hi Todd!). I know the first chapter was pretty rough emotionally, but it will lighten up eventually if you stay with me. So, enjoy, and more to come hopefully!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally. No copyright infringement intended!**

From the moment Austin woke up the following morning, the days leading up to the move to Miami went by in a blur. Mimi was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, trying to pack the last 15 years of their lives into the back of a single U-Haul truck. To say Mimi Moon was a packrat was an understatement. To put this in perspective, most babies have one baby book: Austin had six. She held on to every piece of clothing he ever wore and grew out of; every pre-school art project with crooked writing and haphazardly strewn glitter; every toy he ever owned (including the ones that broke after one use). So, going through all of it and trying to decide what to keep, what to donate, and what to pitch was giving her an ulcer. She could feel it growing…she was sure of it.

The process took two full days, which only left two days to finish everything else that needed to get done before their big move south on Friday.

During the day, Mimi dragged Austin around with her everywhere as she ran errands. He didn't mind the trip to the bank, because at least he got a lollipop out of that deal. But, for the rest of it, he just shuffled behind his mother, praying it would be over soon.

During the evenings, all of their time was spent cleaning the house and packing. Austin was shocked each morning as he roamed the halls and rooms of his home. His mother would stay up well into the night packing, so each morning, a little more of the familiar was gone—stowed away in cardboard and ready for storage. With each bare room, more of his home disappeared.

On the last night in their family home, as his room had already been completely packed up, his mother told him to sleep in her bed. He put on his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and climbed into his mother's king-size, top-of-the-line bed, which she had already turned down for him. When she came to tuck him in a few minutes later, he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, as he had done so many times before. He loved his mother, but he knew her. She had the look all day like she had something to say to him, but kept getting interrupted before she could get it out. Now, one-on-one, would be the perfect time to have that conversation. But, Austin didn't really feel like talking. In fact, since the day his parents broke the news, Austin said nothing. He would nod or shake his head when anyone asked him a Yes or No question, but that's all anyone could get out of him. It's not that he was too traumatized to speak or anything like that. He was just afraid of what would come out of his mouth if he did try to open it.

"Austin, honey," Mimi said as she walked over to sit at the edge of the bed. When she got no response, she inched closer and nudged his leg. "Austin," she said again, this time a little louder. He wasn't expecting the leg nudge, but thought he covered well. He heard his mother sigh as she stood up, seemingly convinced of his sleep state, and pulled the covers up over his shoulders. After leaning in to kiss his forehead, she whispered silently into his hair, "good night, my sweet boy. When you wake up, we'll start our new life. It will be wonderful, I promise."

He wasn't sure if she was reassuring him or herself.

* * *

The drive to Miami from Cincinnati was endless in Austin's nine-year-old mind.

His mother scheduled rest stops and food breaks and little excursions along the way to break up the monotony of car travel for her son and to try to make the experience a good one. She thought that if Austin saw this as an adventure, then maybe he would start talking to her again. Or laugh. Or at least smile. She hadn't seen him do it once since the car ride home on D-Day (which is how she started referring to the day in the ice cream parlor in her own mind), and even then she could tell he was just putting on a brave face. All she knew was that seeing him this unhappy was breaking her heart in two.

He wasn't really interested in sightseeing though…he just wanted to get there already. He wanted bury himself in one of his Nana's hugs and let her hold him so tight he couldn't breathe. He wanted to spend days at sea, fishing with his Pops, listening to completely inappropriate stories about the war. But mostly, he just wanted space…from his mother, his problems, and his sadness.

After spending one night at a cheap motel somewhere in Alabama, they finally arrived in Miami. Of course, Austin had visited the city before on family vacations, and once with his mother when Pops had a heart attack a few years earlier, but it felt different this time.

They pulled into the driveway at his grandparents' house, and as soon as he stepped out of the car, he was struck by two things immediately. The first was the heat. Summertime in Cincinnati could get pretty hot, with temperatures rising well into the 90s during the height of the summer months. On rainy days, the heat would be replaced by humidity that would get so bad you'd feel like you were breathing milk. But in Miami, the heat and humidity seemed to exist at the same time, making the experience of being outside anywhere but at the pool or beach unbearable. As he wiped the sweat off his brow with the hem of his t-shirt, he wondered if he would ever get used to it.

The second was the piano music. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. While he didn't recognize the song, he felt every note of it. It was a sad melody, almost lonely in its construction, and it spoke to Austin. He was pulled forward by it, needing to know who was playing it. He saw an open window at the next-door neighbor's house that he could probably see through if he stood on his tip-toes, but before he could walk any further, he was pulled back to reality by his mother's voice.

"Austin, honey! Come here please and help me take some of these things inside," she said, waving him back to the car. He reluctantly turned around and walked back toward the car, but not before realizing that the music, wherever it was coming from, had stopped. He turned back to look at the open window and thought he saw someone looking at him. He rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them after the long trip, and when he turned back, the person was gone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention then, and he watched the window for a second or two longer before shrugging off the weird feeling and going to help his mom.

**So, do you think Austin actually saw someone, or were his eyes just playing tricks on him? Please review! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hi all. Two chapters in one week...I think I'm on a roll! :) This chapter is a little long to make up for the last one being so short. We really get to meet Austin's grandma in this chapter. All of my grandparents have been gone for some time now, so I like the idea of him having a close relationship with his. As always, please R&R, and if you have any friends who like this kind of thing, spread the word and spread the love! 3 You guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally. No copyright infringement intended!**

As he was walking back toward the car, Austin heard a booming female voice coming from behind him. "Mimi! Austin! My babies have finally made it!," Nana said, making her way down the porch steps, arms thrown wide open just waiting to pull them both into hugs.

"Hi Mom," Mimi squeaked, running over to her mother and burying her face in her shoulder. Nana wrapped her arms tightly around Mimi's waist, clearly ecstatic to see her daughter, but sad over the circumstances that brought her back home. Austin saw Mimi whisper something into Nana's ear that he couldn't quite make out, Nana nodded, and then Mimi pulled back from her mother. Mimi finally looked back to Austin and said, "Austin, don't you want to say hello to Nana?"

Without a word, Austin walked over and wrapped his arms around Nana's waist. She smelled of flour and lavender—a combination of scents that always reminded him of her. When he pulled back, he looked up to her face. She smiled brightly back at him. She bent down as far as she could and said, "I'm so happy that you and your mom are here, sweetie. I'm sorry Pop wasn't here to greet you. He had an early morning golf game, and you know how those can be." She winked at him, which almost made his sullen exterior crack. Almost. One of things he loved the most about his grandmother was her sense of humor. She made him feel like there was always some inside joke between them that only he got. That made him feel grown up and special. She was one of his favorite people on Earth because of it.

"Austin, why don't you go inside and have a cookie while I talk to your mom for a minute, okay?" He nodded furiously, never one to turn down one of Nana's delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies, and took off into the house. After about 10 minutes (and three more cookies than Nana said he could have), she and Mimi finally came into the house, whispering as they finished up whatever conversation they were having outside. Mimi headed up the stairs with some bags when Nana spotted Austin in the kitchen.

Nana walked over to the island where Austin sat on a stool devouring his fifth cookie, and smiled. "I could have sworn there were a dozen cookies on this plate when I went outside, and now there are only seven. There must be a cookie monster running around here somewhere. Only a cookie monster would be able to get through five cookies in the matter of time I was outside," Nana paused for dramatic effect, tapping her index finger on her chin, determined to get a smile out of her little man. Seeing the look beginning to form on Austin's face, she could tell it was time to stop teasing him and continued. "Maybe I should call the police. Did you see anything, Austin?"

He looked up at her through hooded eyes and shook his head slowly from side to side, still with chipmunk cheeks filled to the brim with evidence of his crime. She quirked her eyebrow up at him and crossed her arms in front of her, trying her hardest to look foreboding. He looked scared for a moment until he saw the corners of her lips curling up into a smile. Before he knew it, he smiled too, only with bits of chocolate stuck in his teeth. It was his first smile in days, and it felt good.

"Gotcha!" she grinned, breaking off a piece of cookie and tossing it in her mouth. She headed to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk, grabbing a freshly washed glass off the rack while she closed the fridge door with her hip. She poured a tall glass and slid it over to him. "Don't worry, sweetie. The cookie monster's identity will be our little secret." With that, Austin snatched up another cookie and shoved it in his mouth before she could change her mind.

* * *

Pop finally got home about an hour after they arrived and, with his help, they spent the rest of the afternoon unloading the truck. Pop may have been pushing 65, but no one would dare call him old. He was a war veteran, master carpenter, volunteer firefighter, and avid golfer and swimmer. The man couldn't sit still for more than five minutes at a time, and he was still tough as nails. Austin thought he was invincible…he was his hero.

After unloading the truck and returning it to the local U-Haul, everyone was exhausted. Mimi decided that the unpacking could wait until the next day and took Austin upstairs and put him to bed. After tucking Austin in and kissing him on the head, Mimi walked back downstairs to find her mother boiling water for tea. She sat down heavily at the kitchen table and sighed deeply, finally letting her exhaustion over the past few weeks overwhelm her. Folding her arms on the table, she lowered her forehead onto them and starting slowly rolling it back and forth.

Her mother, knowing Mimi like only a mother could, walked over and sat beside her, rubbing small circles into her back. Nana could feel the tension slowly dissolving under her hand when Mimi looked up into her mother's eyes. "I don't know what to do, Mom," she stated simply. "I am really worried about Austin. He hasn't spoken—at all—since D-Day. Not one word. I mean, he hasn't even smiled. I tried talking to him about it. I tried giving him space. I tried acting like everything was normal. I tried turning our trip down here into an adventure. And, nothing."

"Oh, honey," Nana began, pulling Mimi's hand into hers. "There's no handbook on how to handle situations like these. Every divorced family handles it differently. But, from what I've seen today and everything we've talked about over the past week, I think you're doing everything you can for Austin. As long as he knows you love him and that you'll be there to be honest with him and answer his questions when he has them, he'll come around. He just needs time. You both do."

Mimi yanked her hand away from her mother and stood up, immediately pacing back and forth. "That's it? That's all you've got for me?! You just want me to sit around with my thumb up my ass and wait for my son to turn back into the kid he was before our lives went to hell?! Brilliant, Mom. What would I do without you?" Mimi was steaming now, pure frustration tensing every muscle in her already over-tired body.

Without missing a beat, Nana pushed herself up from the table and walked up to Mimi, grabbing her tightly by her shoulders. "Now you listen hear, Mimi Moon. You may be a grown woman with a son of your own, but I am still your mother. I can still bend you over my knee if I need to, which I will do if you ever address me in that manner in my own house again. Are we clear?"

Mimi, stunned silent momentarily by her mother's tone of voice and physical proximity, bobbed her head up and down. "Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. It will never happen again," she said, feeling so ashamed for talking to her mother like that, especially after everything she'd done to help them. They'd be lost without her and Pop. "But Mom, seriously, do you think I need to take him to talk to someone? Like a child psychologist or something?"

"Honey, I just think you need to breathe. It hasn't even been a full week since…what did you call it? D-Day?," Nana asked, raising her eyebrow questioningly. Mimi smiled and nodded, and Nana continued. "Okay. So, these things take time. You've had months to adjust to the idea of divorcing Mike, and you still haven't processed everything completely. Austin's only had a few days, and he just a little boy. It will take time for him to figure out what all this change means for him, and I think the best thing right now is to let him decide for himself. When he's ready to talk, he will."

"I hope you're right Mom," Mimi said hopefully.

"I'm your mother. Haven't you figured out by now that I'm always right?" Nana smirked and Mimi couldn't help but laugh. "Besides," Nana continued, "I think I have already made some headway with Austin. I've already gotten two smiles out of him and it's only day one."

Nana walked over to the stove to remove the whistling teapot from the burner. Mimi stared adoringly at her mother as she pulled two teacups and two Sleepytime tea bags out of the cupboard and placed them on a tray, along with the teapot and some honey and lemon. _She always remembers how I like it_, Mimi thought. She walked the tray to the table and set it down, motioning for Mimi to help herself. As Mimi let the tea steep, she looked at her mother and sent a silent thanks to the heavens for her. Her mother had always been one of those silver linings people…someone who looked on the bright side of life. Mimi normally found those happy people highly irritating. _What do they have to be so happy about? _But it was different with her mother. In her case, it was the thing she loved most about her. Mimi was glad that even if she was having trouble getting through to Austin, her mother would definitely be able to.

Once the tea had steeped to her liking, Mimi pulled out the teabag, added some honey and lemon, gave the concoction a good stir, and then took a long pull from it. As soon as she swallowed, the warmth spread through her body, and she felt herself really relax for the first time in months. She pulled her hair out of the haphazard ponytail it was tied up in and ran her fingers through it, loving the feeling of her nails against her scalp. She took another sip of her tea and stood up from the table. "Well Mom, if you don't mind, I am going to finish this cup of tea in the hottest bubble bath I can stand to set foot in, and then I'm going to bed."

"Of course I understand. It's been a long journey, in more ways than one. Enjoy your bath, get a good night's sleep, and we will get you unpacked first thing tomorrow."

"Sounds great, Mom," Mimi said, wrapping her now standing mother up in a tight hug. "I love you so much. Thank you again for everything."

"I love you too, honey. Also, you never have to thank me for being your mother. It's kinda my job, even if you are all grown up," Nana said, smiling brightly at her weary daughter. "Goodnight sweetie."

Mimi turned toward the door that would take her back upstairs to the bathroom, but not before turning back to look at her mother, who was carrying the tea tray back to the sink. Mimi knew the dishes would be clean by morning. _I can't sleep with a dirty kitchen_, her mother had always said. Mimi grinned and thought to herself, _it's good to be home_, before racing up the stairs to the beckoning Whirlpool tub.

* * *

Austin crouched silently on the stairs, listening to his mother and Nana's conversation.

Just because he was in a different city and a different house didn't mean his nightly ritual would change. No one could take that away from him. So, after his mother tucked him in, he waited to hear her padding back down the stairs before he crawled out of bed and to the door. He tried listening under the door as usual, but the new location of his bedroom (at the end of the hall) made it harder to hear the voices down in the kitchen. So, feeling bold, he stood up, quietly turned the doorknob, and pulled the door open just enough to squeeze through the opening.

He walked as silently as possible down the hall, and he could hear Pop already snoring through the door of his grandparents' bedroom as he passed it. He made it to the top of the stairs, and the voices wafting up them slowly became audible. He walked down the stairs about halfway and crouched, thinking that position would be better if he had to make a break for it.

He heard his mother say she was worried about him. That part he knew. What he didn't know is that she was thinking of sending him to see a doctor. That scared him.

He remembered a boy at the end of third grade who had some issues. He was funny and a nice kid most of the time, but he could get really hyperactive, even in Austin's eyes, and when he didn't get his way he would lash out at the teacher, sometimes violently. At the beginning of fourth grade, the kid was still in his class, but he was different. He didn't lash out at the teacher anymore and he was much better behaved in class, but his spark was gone. He didn't have the same easy smile and quick wit he had before. It was like the lights were on, but no one was home.

There were about a million different rumors flying around by the end of the first week of school, but the one most students were apt to believe was that the kid was crazy. He became an outcast virtually overnight and stayed one until he transferred to a different school at Christmas break. Even kids that had been his best friends turned on him, and Austin didn't want that fate before he even had a chance to make friends in Miami.

Figuring he'd heard enough, Austin stood, climbed the stairs, and returned to his room. When he got inside and closed the door, it felt wrong. The air in the room was stuffy and stagnant, and he felt like he couldn't breathe again. He raced to the window and forced it open, sticking his face into the night and sucking in as many lungfuls of fresh air as possible. Once he started to calm down and his breathing returned to normal, he surveyed the area he could see from his bedroom window. In the distance, he could see Miami city lights twinkling. He thought he could also hear the sound of waves lapping on the sand.

When he looked down, his eyes were immediately drawn to the neighbor's backyard and the most intricate garden he'd ever seen. There was a stone path starting at the back door of the house that wound in a perfect spiral around and around the yard, ending in a gazebo in the center of the yard. Amazing smelling flowers and bushes created another spiral inside of the one created by the stone path.

If you were looking at it from ground level, you would never be able to see what the person who created it was trying to accomplish. You'd just complain that you kept walking around in circles. But from Austin's vantage point above, he could see it for what it really was, and it was beautiful. He followed the path around and around with his eyes, and finally landed again on the gazebo. Only this time, he noticed something he hadn't before: a girl.

He didn't know if she saw him or not, so he immediately ducked down below the window, making himself invisible to anyone outside. After a minute, he poked his head up from his hiding place to see if the girl was still there (not a figment of his imagination like this morning), and was glad to see that she was. She was swinging back and forth on a porch swing hanging from the gazebo, holding a flashlight between her teeth and a book in her hands.

His first impulse was that this was strange. Who sits in the dark in their backyard at 11:00 at night reading? However, the longer and closer he watched her, he realized she wasn't reading…she was writing in the book. She also had a pattern. She'd scribble furiously for a minute, then pause and re-read what she just wrote. When she was not happy with the result, she would either angrily cross out whatever she had just written or tear the page out altogether, crumpling the paper in a tight ball and dropping it at her feet. But, when she was happy with the result, she would start humming to herself and then smile.

He watched her for about 15 minutes, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight before him and she ran through the pattern. He found his emotions mirroring hers. When she looked happy, he was excited for her. When she looked unhappy, he felt deflated as well. He didn't know her name. He couldn't really even see her face. But he felt connected to her somehow that he couldn't explain.

As he sat watching, he could hear someone walking down the hallway. Not wanting to be caught by his mother for being out of bed so late, he jumped up from the window and crawled back into his bed, facing away from the door. He heard the door crack open behind him, and could smell his mother's expensive bath salts when she poked her head in to check on him. Believing him to be asleep, she shut the door quietly and went to her room. Once Austin heard her door close, he got back out of bed to watch the girl some more. The swing was still moving back and forth on the cool night breeze, but she was no longer on it. He looked around the rest of the garden for a sign of her, but she was nowhere to be found.

Deflated, he flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He thought about the girl. He wanted to know who she was. He wanted to know what she was writing in that book that had her so frustrated. He wanted to know why he cared about it at all. _I'll find out more about her tomorrow_, he thought, finally drifting off to sleep with a sad song and a sweet smile on his mind.

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hi all. I again want to thank everyone for taking a chance on my story. To my reviewers, followers, and favoriters (not a word, but I'm going with it), you guys keep me going on this. Hope you all like this chapter! :0)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally or any characters you recognize. No copyright infringement intended!**

Austin awoke with the sun the following morning, which was unusual to say the least. He may have had a problem getting to sleep most nights, but once he was asleep, it was almost impossible to wake him. This went double for the weekends. This particular Saturday morning, however, sleeping in wasn't going to be an option since his skin was already coated with a thin sheen of sweat.

He remembered that he didn't close his window when he went to sleep the night before, glad to have a cool overnight breeze to provide some respite from the stifling Miami heat. However, that proved a mistake as the early morning heat and humidity was like nothing he had ever experienced. He felt as if he would have to brush it away from his face with his hands just to make it to the door.

His grandparents had air conditioning, but they used it sparingly—never turning it on before the height of summer—to conserve electricity and save money. Of course, his grandparents were old school, and they were also used to the Miami weather, having lived in the area their entire lives. Austin wasn't, and he didn't know how long he could survive with just iced tea and ceiling fans. He was sure that, soon enough, he would be begging for the sweet relief that only Freon-cooled air could provide.

He forced himself up to a sitting position, and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He sat there for a moment, elbows on knees, scrubbing his hands over his face in an attempt to get his eyes to open all the way. He then ran his fingers through his mess of blonde hair and stood, stretching to the ceiling and finally starting to wake up. Still somewhat groggily, he walked over to the window to close it, needing to create a barrier between himself and the heat, but he stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of the garden. He smiled as pictures from the previous night flooded back to him, and he remembered the promise he made to himself: _I'll find out more about her tomorrow._ Now fully awake and energized, he set off to make good on it.

* * *

It had been two weeks since the night he watched her, and Austin was no closer to figuring out who the girl in the garden was. It wasn't for a lack of trying.

For the first week, he spent every day, every moment he was home, playing in the yard and staking out the house next door. Each night, after his mother would tuck him into bed, instead of sneaking out to eavesdrop on adult conversations as he normally did, he sat at his window, watching the garden and the gazebo and the empty swing move back and forth.

During these seven days, he saw no sign of anyone coming from or going to the house. So, on the eighth day of his stakeout, frustrated by the fact that the girl had still not made another appearance, he ran out of patience and decided to follow through on the impulse he had on Day One in Miami: he was going to walk into the neighbor's yard and look into the window.

When Austin made it to the house, he realized that he underestimated the distance from the ground to the bottom of the window, and he was about six inches too short to see into it. He tried pulling himself up on the window ledge, but with the humidity causing every inch of his body to drip sweat, he couldn't get a good enough grip to be able to support his weight. He stepped back and searched the area with his eyes, trying to find something to stand on. He knew he could go inside the house to get a stool or a stepladder, but he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than he already was.

He saw an old wooden crate that Nana had converted into a flower box in a neglected corner of her garden, and he thought it would do the trick. He pulled the crate under the window and put a foot on it, testing to see if it was strong enough to hold his weight before fully standing on it. Feeling somewhat optimistic that he wouldn't fall straight through it, he braced himself on the window ledge and stood upright, the crate giving him just enough height to see clearly through the glass.

He expected to finally get some answers, but looking through the window, it was clear he wasn't going to find them: no one had lived here in quite a while. The house was furnished, but most of the furniture was covered over in sheets. On the few exposed surfaces remaining, he could see a layer of dust that had to have built up over time. The hardwood floors were in a similar state of neglect. As his eyes panned from left to right, they finally landed on a black baby grand piano in the corner of the room nearest the window. It too was covered by a sheet.

Feeling the crate start to give beneath his feet, Austin hopped down from his perch and pulled it back over to the corner of the yard from whence it came. After walking back into his house and up the stairs to his room, Austin sat at his window, staring down at the spiral garden next door.

None of this made sense. If no one lived in this house (which appeared to be the case), then why was the window open on the first day? How could he hear music coming from the piano, and who was playing it? Why was the girl in the backyard so late at night? Why didn't she ever come back?

As he thought more about it, he worried that maybe his mother was right…maybe he was going crazy. _Was I hearing and seeing things that weren't actually there?_ _Maybe those were just figments of my imagination brought on by exhaustion and heatstroke._ But, he was sure that the night he spent watching the girl in the garden really happened. Or, at least he thought it really happened. _Maybe she was just a dream_, he thought. After the strange things he'd seen over the past eight days, he couldn't really be sure.

Discouraged by his lack of progress toward his goal, he spent the rest of the second week trying to get his mind off of the girl. He wandered around the neighborhood, getting acclimated to his new surroundings. He spent a day at the fire house with Pop, where he got to ride the big fire engine and play with Sparkplug, the quintessential firehouse Dalmatian. He went to the beach with his mother, where they built sandcastles and ate hot dogs and he splashed in the surf for hours on end.

Of course, none of that really worked. She haunted his thoughts when he least expected it. So, each night, he would still spend hours sitting at his bedroom window, hoping to look out and see her pumping her legs, swinging back and forth, alive and real and not some fascinating hallucination. But, each night, hopes dashed, he would crawl into his bed and pray that if she was just a dream, he would somehow find her in his sleep.

* * *

It was Saturday afternoon, and Austin stayed at home with Nana and Pop while Mimi went out to run some errands. Pop was walking Austin through the finer points of putting on his mini green in the living room when Mimi returned home, arms loaded down with shopping bags. This was a familiar sight to Austin. Mimi had a bit of a shopping addiction, which only intensified with the stress of the divorce and move home to Miami. The only salvo to her finances was that she also suffered from a severe case of buyer's remorse and usually ended up returning half of what she bought anyway.

She walked into the kitchen and set her bags down on the table before walking over to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. Nana, who was prepping some steaks for dinner later, watched her daughter take a long drink of water before making eye contact with her. "I take it from your haul that the shopping trip was a success?" Nana questioned in a very pointed tone. The woman wouldn't even turn the air conditioning on in 90-degree Miami heat, so her daughter spending money so casually really ate at her.

Ignoring her mother's tone, Mimi smiled and said, "Yeah, Mom. It was great. I went to that new Mall of Miami. It is _so_ much nicer than the Galleria that used to be downtown when I was a teenager, and definitely better than any of the malls back in Cincinnati. There were so many sales going on, I didn't know where to start!" She took another drink of her water and, seeing the look on her mother's face, quickly added, "I got some great deals though!"

Nana smirked at her daughter's attempt to appease her frugality, and went back to work tenderizing the steaks. Mimi walked over to the table and started to go through her purchases when she remembered something else she wanted to tell her mother. "You will never guess who I saw today," she said, pausing for dramatic effect.

"Oh really? Who was that, dear?" Nana replied, never taking her eyes off of the ribeyes on the counter before her.

"Lester Dawson." At the mention of that name, Nana finally looked up from the steaks and straight into her daughter's blue eyes. She put down the mallet she was holding and walked over to Mimi, both of them sitting down at the table.

Mimi, seeing how her news has darkened her mother's expression, reached across the table and pulled her mother's hand into hers. "Mom, what is it? You look like you saw a ghost."

"I feel like I did, sweetie. I haven't heard that name in a few years, and it kind of knocked the wind out of me. How did he seem?" she questioned, gripping Mimi's hands just a bit tighter than she had been.

"I don't know," Mimi responded. "I haven't seen him since high school. He seemed okay I guess: older, grayer, fatter. Maybe a little sadder. But who isn't?" she joked, trying to lighten up the mood in the room a bit. Based on her mother's expression, her efforts failed spectacularly. "Mom, what's going on? I didn't think you even knew Lester that well. I only remember him coming over a couple of times to study when we were kids. It's not like we were that close. Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Nana looked at Mimi, still with sad eyes, and took a deep breath before responding. "Oh, sweetie. You missed a lot around here while you were gone. I only really ever told you the good things, because you know I'm not one to gossip, but Lester Dawson's story…that one's truly tragic."

Mimi (who unlike her mother most definitely _was_ a gossip) was now intrigued. She would get this story out of her mother or die trying. "So, what happened to Lester, Mom?"

Nana hesitated, unsure if she had the strength to tell this story or if Mimi was really ready to hear it. "Are you sure you want to know about this? It's one of those stories you can't un-hear…the kind that will break your heart."

Mimi, now more intrigued than before, scooted forward on her chair. "I'll tell you what," she started, "you grab the tissues and I'll grab the Haagen-Dazs."

**Thank you for reading! Reviews/thoughts/favorite parts are like food to my soul...please feed me. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hi guys. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I haven't been feeling particularly motivated to write the past couple of weeks, but I also didn't want to make any of you wait any longer. There is a lot of Nana monologue in this chapter, but I think it set us up well to go into the next one. **

**I, as always, want to thank everyone who has favorited/followed/reviewed the story up to this point. I don't think I really realized how much I was biting off when I started it, and we are nowhere close to the finish line. We'll get there though. I also wanted to take an opportunity to respond to some of the reviews I have gotten to this point:**

**aesham01: I can totally see how you would wonder if Ally is a ghost or not. All I will say at this point is, maybe she is and maybe she isn't. You'll have to stick with me for the answer! :)**

**shortygirl333: I think 9yo Austin is adorable too! He's been really fun to write. Hopefully this chapter will answer some of your Lester questions. :)**

**Todd-The-Human: You're awesome. To answer your question, I am planning to introduce both Dez and Trish into the story at some point. Since this is Austin's story, we will probably meet Dez first. Thanks for hanging in since chapter 1, and please keep reviewing! :)**

**All my guest reviewers: Thank you for the support. It makes me feel really good that you are addicted, and only makes me want to keep writing. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally. If I did, they'd have to play it on HBO. No copyright infringement intended!**

_Previously:_

"_Are you sure you want to know about this? It's one of those stories you can't un-hear…the kind that will break your heart."_

_Mimi, now more intrigued than before, scooted forward on her chair. "I'll tell you what," she started, "you grab the tissues and I'll grab the Haagen-Dazs."_

* * *

Mimi's attempt at levity again fell flat with her mother. "That's really not funny, Mimi," Nana scolded, shaking her head at her daughter's flippant remark. "If you aren't going to take this seriously, maybe I shouldn't even bother telling you." Nana placed her hands on the table and began pushing herself to a standing position, but, before she could, Mimi rested her hand on her mother's shoulder and pushed her back down into the chair.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to be so unsympathetic about Lester's problems, especially considering how unkind life has been to me recently." She paused then, letting her apology sink in for a moment before continuing. "But, you can't just walk away now! You've piqued my interest too much. You have to tell me the story! I promise to sit here in complete silence until you finish," she pleaded with wide blue eyes, holding up the index, middle, and ring fingers on her right hand. "Scouts honor."

Nana laughed then, remembering the disastrous week that Mimi spent in the Girl Scouts as a child. Mimi had always been what you'd call "indoorsy"—much more at home in a shopping mall than at a Girl Scout jamboree. She basically quit at the first sign of dirt on her crisp new uniform. The memory of her little girl melted her heart just enough that she finally caved. "Okay, I'll tell it, but I'm not really sure where to start."

"I find that the beginning is usually a good place," Mimi suggested, perking up at the impending gossip.

"Alright, wise guy. I thought you were going to stay quiet so I could get through this." At her mother's response, Mimi mimicked zipping and locking her lips and throwing away the key. With her eyes, she urged her mother to begin the story.

Nana took a breath and began. "I guess Lester's story really starts after high school when he went away to college. He went to Florida State for music performance, which I'm sure you remember. But, after a couple of years of classes, he realized he had a one in a million chance of making it big in the music industry. He still loved to play, but he wasn't as gifted as most of his contemporaries. He started taking other courses to figure out his next steps, and before he knew it, he had a double major in music theory and psychology.

"He thought he could combine his two passions to help people by studying the effect of music therapy on depression. So, in his junior year, to make sure that being a therapist was really what he wanted to do with his life, he began volunteering at a local psychiatric hospital. That's where he met Penny.

"He said he knew from the second he saw her that no other woman would ever compare in his eyes. It didn't matter whose company they were in—she would always be the most beautiful woman in the room. She was bright and inquisitive with a mind like a sponge, reading constantly on topics as varied as The Civil War and string theory. She was artistic too, able to create the most beautiful watercolor landscapes. But the thing he loved the most about her was how genuine she was. Some would say she was honest to a fault, but he found it endlessly refreshing, believing more people should say what they mean and mean what they say.

"It wasn't long before he had fallen head-over-heels for her, but there was one big complication: Penny didn't work at the hospital, or volunteer like him…she was a patient." Nana hesitated momentarily, taking in her daughter's expression. From Mimi's now saucer-sized eyes, she could tell that she was doing a good job spinning the yarn. Taking another breath, she carried on. "You see, Penny was manic depressive, or, I guess the preferred term these days is bi-polar. She would be bouncing off the walls one day, and unable to get out of bed the next. It was something she suffered with since high school, and it only got worse as the years went on. By the time she met Lester, she had already attempted suicide twice. The second failed attempt was what landed her in the hospital when Lester started volunteering.

"Penny was upfront with him about her problems, and very hesitant to start anything with him because of them. She actually told him to stay away from her on multiple occasions, but he was nothing if not persistent. Every day, even on days when he wasn't volunteering, he would visit her. On her good days, they would sit in the common room and play cards or watch a movie or just talk for hours on end. On her bad days, he would sit in her darkened hospital room with her and hold her if she let him…rocking her back and forth in his arms, humming a gentle melody, and doing anything he could to give her some shelter from the pain. Eventually, after weeks of pushing him away, she couldn't do it anymore. She told him she loved him too, and he promised to always stay by her side.

"After a few months, her doctor felt confident that she was ready to be released back into the world as long as she visited her therapist regularly and promised to stay on her meds. The day she was discharged, Lester was waiting outside the hospital for her with a giant bouquet of peonies, which were her favorite, in one hand, and an engagement ring in the other. She said yes to his proposal immediately, and within a year they were married and Penny was pregnant with their child.

"During this time, Lester finished college and earned his Bachelor's degree, but knowing he now had a growing family to support, med school was no longer an option. Instead, he took a job working as a commercial instrument salesman, selling new instruments to schools for use in their band programs. It wasn't what he thought he'd end up doing, but he didn't care. He was truly happy for maybe the first time in his life.

"Of course, it wasn't a tiptoe through the tulips by any means. Penny's disorder made being pregnant tricky. If she stayed on her meds during the pregnancy, it was possible that the baby could be harmed. If she went off of them, it was possible that her symptoms would return in full force and that she may try to harm herself. After long deliberations with her doctor and psychiatrist, Penny made the decision to go off of her meds just until the baby was born. It was rough, but with Lester's support, she survived it. Their perfect, healthy daughter was born the same year as Austin actually, and everything was good for a while…until it wasn't."

In the middle of the retelling of the Lester Dawson saga, Nana's attention was pulled away from the story and Mimi as Austin walked into the kitchen. His eyes were downcast as he walked to the fridge and pulled a cherry popsicle out of the freezer. He struggled to remove the wrapper, finally forced to rip into it with his teeth. Once he got to the sweet treat inside, he shoved it into his mouth and took a big bite. It was probably a bigger bite than he should have taken, considering the sticky red juice now running down his chin. But, based on the smile on his face, Nana assumed he didn't mind.

Meanwhile, true to her word, Mimi sat and listened quietly, taking in all of the new information. However, from the beginning of the story, something was just not adding up in her head. Feeling cheeky, Mimi raised her hand like a school kid and waited for her mother to call on her. When she turned back toward Mimi, whose hand was aloft, Nana grinned at her silly daughter and decided to play along. "Yes. You in the front. Do you have a question?"

Mimi smiled back at her mother, lowered her hand to her lap, and aired the thought out that had been niggling in the back of her mind. "Mom, the way you are telling this story—all of these details—make it seem like you were there...like you were a part of it. So, I guess my question is how do you know all of this?"

"Oh! Did I forget to tell you that part?" Nana looked puzzled for a moment, as if she was trying to recall what she'd said. It was a lengthy tale, and she was a little more forgetful than she once had been. "I'm sorry, sweetie. The reason I know what happened is because I was there, in a way. Your father and I both were. You see, the Dawsons were our next-door neighbors."

* * *

During Austin's putting tutorial with Pop, he worked up a bit of a sweat. It's not like putting is all that strenuous an activity, but in a house with old people who refused to turn on the air conditioning, just walking from one room to another could cause someone to perspire. Pop, after seeing the beads building up on Austin's brow, felt for him and told him to take a break. "Why don't you go into the kitchen and get a popsicle, pal? We can continue this a little later. Sound good?"

Austin nodded his head furiously and took off toward the kitchen. As he approached the door, he could hear his Nana's voice. It sounded like she was telling a story, but he didn't know what about and at the moment he didn't care. He had a one-track mind, and all that was on it was icy refreshment. But, not wanting to interrupt, he walked through the door as quietly as possible, not looking up until he reached the fridge. Thankfully, Nana and Pop had once of those nice fridges where the freezer was on the bottom, which meant he could retrieve the popsicle without any help.

He pulled out the popsicle, closed the freezer drawer, and strained to pull the wrapper apart. As he fought with the plastic, growing ever more frustrated, he wondered why this always seemed to happen to him. _Why is it that the things you really want are so hard to get? _

Eventually, when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere with his hands, he gave up, put the wrapper between his teeth, and pulled. He hoped his mom didn't see. She had a weird thing about teeth, and she definitely wouldn't have liked it.

He threw the shredded wrapper into the trash can and shoved the popsicle into his mouth. As soon as it hit his tongue, he could feel the heat subsiding. He swirled his tongue around the popsicle for a moment before biting off a huge chunk. As the sticky liquid ran down his chin, he smiled, enjoying the spoils of his victory over the plastic packaging.

As the refreshing cool took him over—if only momentarily—he finally allowed himself to tune in on the conversation happening between his mother and Nana, which had just picked back up. He surmised based on his mother's question and their close proximity to one another that Nana's story was a good one. He mentally kicked himself for not being around for the beginning of it. _The one time I don't listen in, I miss something important. Typical._

Austin threw away the popsicle stick and turned back toward the living room where Pop was waiting to continue his lesson. However, what came out of Nana's mouth next stopped him dead in his tracks: "you see, the Dawsons were our next-door neighbors."

Austin turned back to the dining room table and saw that Nana and his mom weren't paying him one bit of attention. This might bother some kids, but Austin preferred it that way. He liked being a fly on the wall. After all, it was much easier to find out people's secrets when they didn't even realize they were telling them.

He walked through the entryway from the dining room to the foyer, and took a seat at the bottom of the stairs. He knew from his experience on their first night in Miami that he would be able to hear everything clearly from here. After all of the confusion, even if Pop came through and caught him eavesdropping, it would be worth it if Nana could shed some light—any light—on what was happening with the house next door and, more importantly, the girl.

* * *

"How did I not know that Lester was your neighbor? I would think that may have come up in conversation at some point, Mom," Mimi prompted, looking flustered. _What else hasn't she told me?_ she thought somewhat bitterly.

"I don't know sweetie. Must have slipped my mind. I am getting up there, you know," she joked, taking some of the wind out of Mimi's sails.

"Whatever you say, mom. So, getting back to the story, you said that things were good, until they weren't. What happened next? What went wrong?"

Nana shook her head sadly, thinking back to the events in question. "Sweetie," she said, "I think the better question is, 'what went right?'"

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm sure you're used to it by now. :) Reviews are, as always, encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know what you think...reviews keep me motivated! :) **


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